Raised in Dungeon

"God Blessing : Season of Soul, Spring."

Various small flowers grew incredibly fast from Clarissa's direction towards Allen. It was Clarissa's god's blessing that could make her soul move into the souls of others. One of the conditions for its use was that her mana had to be connected to the mana target. Normally she would have to get close to her target or use her armacar to suck her opponent's blood, but since Allen was spilling all his mana around, Clarissa could use her god's blessing on Allen.

When Clarissa entered Allen's body, Allen's god's blessing was immediately cancelled, and the black blood scattered around slowly disappeared. Allen's body which Clarissa had entered, now just sat looking at the sky; there was some delay time before Clarissa could control Allen's body permanently.

"It's finally over," Norman muttered.

Norman then sheathed his sword and approached Felicia,

"Wow, she's really recovered from that severe injury. As expected of a hero's reincarnation."

The fascinating concept of reincarnation extended beyond the idea of souls descending from other worlds into this one. Although quite rare and virtually non-existent, there were instances of people from this world being reincarnated back into the same world. This miracle only happened to the great heroes of ancient times, as they were the ones destined to be bound by the reincarnation system of the world. Since their lives were tragically short, their souls were ceaselessly reborn into new bodies, although each new incarnation had no recollection of the past. Nevertheless, it is whispered that these heroes are held together by an unbreakable thread of fate that assures their reunion whenever a critical situation threatens the world's peace.

Clarissa's goal was to find those people; Clarissa believed that Felicia was one of the reincarnated heroes.

"Maybe we should meet Mary first to keep this child in her stomach," Norman said while lifting Felicia's unconscious body.

Norman then looked at Arthur, who was still gloomy, doing nothing.

'Arthur is in his territory, but that kid didn't even do anything to him...' Norman thought.

"Hey Arthur! Let's keep going! I don't care what happens to you, but you must finish your work quickly!"

Arthur didn't answer,

"HEY STUPID! DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME! ANYWAY, AFTER I DROP THIS KID OFF, YOU HAVE TO LEAD US! OTHERWISE, I'LL TOLD CLARISSA POSSESS YOU!"

'This is why I hate rookies!' Norman thought.

As Norman was about to return to Clarissa's,

"s t o p"

Suddenly, Norman felt a tense aura from behind him, making him unable to move.

'What is this aura? I've never felt anything like this before...'

He felt an overwhelming hatred aimed at humans, and suddenly Norman realized something when thinking about it more.

'No, I've felt this type of mana before. If I'm not mistaken, it was when I was about to retrieve the core for Pervenire Mors on the 8th floor of the dungeon. This isn't the aura that humans have! It's something else! The aura of monsters!'

The aura felt like it was piercing all parts of his body.

-THRUST

And, in fact, something did pierce Norman's body.

As Norman cautiously glanced over his shoulder, his heart skipped a beat. There before him stood Allen, his blood-red eyes fixed upon him with an unnerving intensity. He clutched something dark and sinister in his hand, the black thing, forming a lethal weapon that made Norman shudder. Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his left side as the weapon plunged deep into his flesh. He watched in shock as Allen's perfectly-coiffed hairdo unraveled before his very eyes, revealing a shock of some white hair that had been meticulously hidden until now.

"Tch!" Norman bit his own tongue to allow himself to move away from the tense aura. He immediately retreated backwards while holding Felicia's body.

'What was that just now?! Isn't Clarissa controlling his body?!' Norman thought.

"Ng-AH!"

Clarissa suddenly woke up in her own body, with profuse sweat and tired eyes. Her breathing was labored, and her whole body was shaking, like she was scared.

As Clarissa's eyes suddenly opened, she became aware of the dampness on her skin and the heaviness in her chest. Her vision was blurred by exhaustion, and her trembling fingers brushed away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Her heart pounded in her ears, the sound echoing like a warning in the silence she had created. As she struggled to catch her breath, Clarissa felt a surge of fear course through her body, like an icy grip tightening its hold on her.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" screamed Clarissa who suddenly remembered everything inside Allen's body.

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHY DID YOU GO BACK TO YOUR BODY?!" yelled Norman.

Clarissa grabbed her head and scratched it like crazy. Water came out of her eyes, accompanied by blood that flowed afterwards. She tried to quell the panic rising within her, willing her thoughts to slow down and make sense of what was happening. But despite her efforts, the images in her mind remained chaotic and fragmented, like a nightmare that wouldn't release its hold on her. Every muscle in her body tensed as if preparing for something she couldn't comprehend.

As she lay there, still caught in the grip of terror, she said:

"A-that kid... that kid... H-his soul is so horrible!"

"HEY! HANG IN THERE! EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!"

Clarissa shook her head repeatedly,

"I-I AM SCARED!... his soul is blacker than anything in this world!... No, it can't be! It can't be his soul! There's something inside him! When I entered his soul, so many eyes were looking at me!!! The real terror!"

'Eyes?'

"N-not only that... this fear... this horror... is just like what this soul felt a thousand years ago... During our battle against the demon king, SATAN!"

Clarissa is one of the reincarnated heroes; she has no memories of her past self, but the determination within her is still there. That is, to gather back all her comrades and... devour them with her mouth.

The moment she entered Allen's body, something inside Allen's body brought back the fear and trauma she felt a thousand years ago when fighting the demon king.

"That kid... what the f*ck he actually is?!" Norman looked at Allen and noticed a significant change in him.

A black substance coating part of Allen's body seemed to be sticking to his left hand, forming a long sword.

"?! Is that another of his god's blessings?! But how could it be?! The aura I feel around him is different. It's like he's turning into someone else!" Norman uttered.

'Maybe this is also why Arthur couldn't see the boy with his eyes; there was something strange about his existence. His black and white hair also bothered me. Even an other-worlder shouldn't be have different hair colors.'

Allen at that time had already surrendered himself to his demonic mana which suddenly rose because Clarissa entered his soul. Then that demonic mana made Allen consumed by hatred and anger. The anger Allen felt fed Reig and made him fuse with a part of Allen's body, just like what happened in the dungeon when fighting Leofric.

Norman looked at Clarissa, who was still in shock, and then he held Clarissa in his right hand

"Let's go; let's leave this kid alone. Lingering here is even more dangerous," Norman lifted Felicia on his left shoulder and Clarissa on his right. Despite his small stature and currently severe injuries, Norman could still lift them both at once and move nimbly.

'We will take Arthur later; the kid won't kill him anyway,' Norman muttered.

"I told you to stop..."

"!!!"

Before Norman knew it, Allen was beside him, glaring at him with a sinister face. Allen then stabbed Norman in the head. In that super short time, Norman threw Clarissa and Felicia behind him and drew his sword. He blocked Allen's attack with his short sword. After dodging it, Norman took a blow on Allen's left hand that had slid in earlier, as if he had expected Norman to withstand his attack just now.

Norman was hit by Allen's punch and was thrown a few meters back. But while being thrown, Norman pointed his sword at Allen. The blade extended towards Allen, and just like before, he seemed to have expected Norman to do that, so he easily swatted it away.

'That's crazy… He really guessed everything I was thinking... It's like he has a parallel mind that can make him fight and think simultaneously, but such things are only possessed by adfeqtus reliqua users,' Norman thought.

"I haven't seriously fought in a long time...and I feel I don't want to… But I had to be serious now," Norman said.

Norman set up his strange stance again. This time, Norman rushed towards Allen, vertically attacking him with his short sword. Unlike before, Allen could block Norman's sword with the Reig that was now fused to his hand.

But

"Abare : Pervenire Mors,"

"God blessing: Bestowed our Sin."

As Norman muttered it, Norman's sword grew in length, its blade glinting menacingly in the moon. Suddenly, with a resounding thud, the sword's weight became unbearable, causing Allen's legs to buckle beneath him. Despite his best efforts to protect himself with his hands, they too were crushed under the overwhelming pressure of the weapon, exacerbating the impact on his already bruised and battered body. The floor beneath them also shattered, forming a rather large hole under the weight of the sword and Allen's body. Reig managed to keep himself from being cut in half by Norman's attack, which took Norman by surprise.

"Hoo… As I held the sword in my hands and recited my god's blessing, I estimated that it probably weighed a daunting 10000 pounds now, a fact that would make even the most seasoned warrior wince. I was impressed and astounded by your body's resilience. Usually, people would die almost instantaneously from being crushed by a 1000-pound sword, let alone one that weighed ten times as much. In fact, many individuals had lost their lives, split in two by the sheer force of this weapon."

This time Norman looked at Allen who was still alive, and saw him looking in pain because his body was now crushed.

"I hope this is really 'over' now," muttered Norman.